The MACAY, Yucatán’s only museum of its kind, says goodbye
Yucatán’s contemporary art museum, MACAY, announced that it will close its doors today.
The closure, which has been described by the MACAY’s director as symbolic, may however soon be real.
The decision to stage the museum’s closure comes after Yucatán’s state government failed to meet its own deadline for making funds available to the museum.
“The state signed a commitment to fund the MACAY back in 1993, but the government is no longer keeping up their end, so we are left with little choice,” said the MACAY’s director, Rafel Pérez.
The announcement was made on social media and has caused a stir in Yucatán’s art community.
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“It is a shame that the government is closing down so many museums and cultural centers, it’s such a shame. The problem here is clearly one of corruption,” said Mérida resident Karen Bojorquez.
Commentators pointed out the hypocrisy of cutting back funding for the arts when plans for large and expensive infrastructure projects, such as Mérida’s recently announced new airport, are widely seen as unnecessary.
The MACAY is located in the very heart of Mérida’s Centro Histórico and is accessible through the Pasaje de la Revolución, a corridor just next to the southern end of Mérida’s San Ildefonso Cathedral. It faces the Plaza Grande, Mérida’s main square, and is contained in a 16th-century palace.
Since it first opened its doors in the early 1990s, admission to the MACAY has been free. The grand 38,000-square-foot building contains 15 rooms for temporary exhibits, two galleries, and four rooms for permanent exhibits.